Unseen textual analysis mega post

This post features a range of examples of unseen analyses that COULD come up in the unseen media language analysis question for component one. Here we've focused on video media, but remember print media can also come up for this question.

A quick search online will help you find the unseen text in question.

Thunderbolts trailer

• EDITING - fast paced and yet imbued with sadness. The montage of both sad, serious and stern faces reinforces an emotional mode of address, and anchors in the audience a sense of sadness and loss.
• The SOUNDTRACK is mellow, low tempo and depressing. The song, Pressure by Queen is here covered in a depressing and sombre tone, which constructs an inspiring and empowering mode of address. 
• The PROTAGONIST has a depressed performance, which is constructed through a montage of close ups of her face. Pugh has been cast due to her roles in other depressing films. Yet Pugh is also hegemonically attractive in a relatable way, which allows young female audiences the ability to relate to the protagonist in a typically male dominated genre.
• The use of conventions of the superhero genre provides fans with an appealing mode of address
• Steve Neale argued that genre is based on repetition and difference. Here, the difference is that this film is grounded in reality and constructs a gritty mode of address through its verisimilitude 
• A hyperreal construction of America is constructed through the relatable MES of a large American city. It is instantly recognisable to a mass global audience, to minimise risk and maximise profit. This can be seen in every element from the choice of casting to the special effects
• Lots of famous actors and characters, appealing to a pre sold audience
• A large amount of intertextual references. The references to the Hiroshima bombing give this film a bleak and depressing ideological perspective 
• The superhero genre has developed and changed over time. This genre fluidity is essential to appeal to a growing and changing audience
• Many allegorical references to real world issues, such as the threat of war and Russia. A stereotypical representation 
• The choice of colour palette, focussing on greys, greens and browns is achieved through significant digitally post produced colour grading
• The void, a ‘pure black’ antagonist represents anything the audience wants it to represent. Trauma, depression, the threat of way

M&S - Love That

• Targeting a middle aged middle class, white female audience
• The fashion is basic, minimalist and fairly conservative, suggestive, suggesting as more modest and conservative lifestyle is being sold
• The soundtrack uses an upbeat song that will particularly appeal to a middle aged target audience
• The use of close up shots of smiles and split screening combine to construct an exciting and hyperreal representation of living in the big city. This reinforces the ideology that city life has its problems, but more importantly, it constructs a hypereal and consumerist ideology where all problems can be solved by buying things. 
• The combination of low angle shots, the confident and structured performance, reinforced through the upbeat music that suggests fun and exciting constructs a reality of confidence and self-assurance. 
• The natural and understated makeup is highly unconventional, and reinforces a high street, as opposed to high end ideology
• The models selected are hegemonically attractive, yet relatable and even aspirational MOA for the target audience. Moreover, this advert reinforces gender stereotypes, particularly the patriarchal hegemonic expectation that women should be ‘perfect’ ad hegemonically attractive

Sam Fender - Little Bit Closer

• Clear intertextual reference to Stand By Me, although there are some big differences. The cast is ethnically diverse, allowing the video to appeal to a wider audience.
• The setting is stereotypically British, positioning a British audience in a familiar mode of address.
• Highly unconventional music video, with a complete lack of performance shots and master shots. This allows the video to target a wider audience, through repetition and difference
• The aesthetic of the video is based around the beauty of nature and the British countryside. However a binary opposition is constructed between the stereotypical teenages and the not so stereotypical setting that they appear in
• The music video is inspirational and aspirational, and constructs an almost religious mode of address through the hermeneutic code of the light in the woods. 

Sinners - theatrical trailer

• Use of generic hybridity: the action genre is encoded through the repeated MRS of guns, yet the horror genre is encoded through the use of vampires and blood
• Horror iconography - persistent use of low key lighting functions as a hermeneutic code, constructing a sense of dread and mystery. Additionally, the montage of close up shots of bleeding faces and screaming reaction shots reinforces a conventional horror experience
• Steve Neale: repetition and difference. The predominantly black cast will stereotypically appeal to a black audience who may not previously be targeted by horror
• Subverts the convention that the ‘black guy dies first’ 
• Editing becomes quick fire and frantic, conventional for a trailer. The function of a trailer is to advertise a film to a range of audiences
• The use of dramatic sound effects is highly conventional of film trailers, suggesting a mass market audience is being targeted 
• The on screen graphics reference the director's previous films, cultivating a presold audience for this film
• Many religious references: highly conventional for vampire films. The use of props such as crosses situates the action in the American deep south 
• The deep south setting, the turn of the century setting and the focus on black identity suggest themes of racism and oppression that will resonate with black audiences 
• References to the blaxploitation genre 
• Michael B Jordan: famous from Black Panther and Creed, a hegemonically attractive and bankable lead 
• Van Zoonen - the male gaze. Subvert to discuss Jordan…

Jim Legxacy -Father

• A nostalgic mode of address is constructed through the overall aesthetic of the video. A sense of everyday life is constructed from the establishing shot of the inner city East London housing estate. The MES of the brown, washed out flats constructs a mundane and boring mode of address. 
• However, a surprising narrative is established when the artist drops his phone down a grate, suddenly switching into a surreal, saturated and colourful world of a crowded bus filled with school kids. Here, a binary opposition is constructed between fantasy and reality, and suggests the performer is looking back on a hyperreal youth in the early 00’s
• The MES of the blue sky outside of the bus constructs a highly nostalgic early 00s aesthetic. This is anchored through the MES of the performer playing an Xbox on a retro television. 
• Subverts genre conventions by being a rap song with high key, saturated lighting, and the MES of wholesome friendships
• A lack of swearing is also unconventional, and reinforces a positive aesthetic
• The lyrics are highly enigmatic
• The editing is fast paced and energetic, typical of a product targeting a younger audience, with many images and video tracks overlaid using digital post production editing 
• Completely subverts audience expectations, switching out from the bleak inner city setting 
• Use green screen post editing techniques and CG e.g. for bopping tower blocks

Stella Artois - David and Dave

• Lexis - “the other David”. Constructs two distinct groups: British people and American  people
• The advert starts with an establishing montage of a hyperreal british pub
• The MES of a knife shaving foam from the top of the glass constructs a luxurious mode of address, and David Beckham is clearly not drunk, This constructs a representation of Beckham as responsible and mature
• Adverts sell a lifestyle as opposed to a product. Tellingly, no Stella is drunk in this advert. However, we begin with a fetishistic close up of the foam of a glass of stella. Which is later reinforced through the fetishistic close up of a bottle of steal.
• Cutting to Beckham’s smiling face, he delivers the line “You drink Stella?”, to which Affleck replies “I have taste David”. By selecting these individuals, Stella Artois is buying the presold audiences that these celebrities have. Additionally, these celebrities have officially endorsed this product. This reconstructs a reality that to be a successful, attractive and charming man, drinking this brand of larger will help us to achieve this. 
• This advert constructs an escapist and hyperreal fantasy, of friendship and brotherhood, where audiences are positioned in a voyeuristic mode of address. The advert constructs a parasocial relationship, and a perfect world of friendship, exchanging…
• Uses stereotypes to convey a specific and stereotypical representation of white identity
• Here, white people are represented as boring, straightforward and hegemonic in their status. This advert reinforces a hegemonic norm about the hierarchical status of white people in both American and British culture